Method and apparatus for making shingle elements



1934- F. c. OVERBURY 1,970,431

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING SHINGLE ELEMENTS Filed NOV. 27, 1951INVENTOR. 5 Frederick C-ol/erbury ATTORNEY? Patented Aug. 14, 1934METHQD AlPPATUS FOR SG-LE ELEMENTS Frederick C. Overbury, Hillsdale, N.3., assignor to lhe Patent and Licensing Corporation, Boston, Masa, acorporation of Massachusetts Application November 27, 1931, Serial No.537,442

9 Claim.

This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for manufacturingshingle elements, particularly those comprising a base of fibrousmaterial made resistant to water, wear and weather.

- by the application of suitable water-proofing and wear-resistingsubstances.

In the manufacture of asphalt shingles it is customary to produce asheet of bibulous felt, madefrom rags, cellulosic material, hair, wool,

0 asbestos or the like, on a paper machine and saturate the sheet withasphalt while in'a molten condition. The saturated sheet is coated withhigh melting point blown asphalt and surfaced on one or both sides withcrushed slate, slag or the like material. The finished sheet is then cutinto individual shingles or strips.

Shingles or strips so producedhave several objectionable features. Theyare fiat and thin and hence are unattractive and appear to beunsubstantial. Moreover, the felt fibres are exposed along the cut edgesand absorb moisture during wet or damp weather causing the element toswell with resultant cracking of the coating and disintegration of theentire shingle. I

One of the objects of this invention is to pro-, vide a method of andapparatus for sealing the edges and thickening the butt portions ofshingle elements which have been made in the manner described.

I Another object of my invention is to provide a continuous method andapparatus for feeding elements directly from the roofing machine to ade-.

vice for sealing the edges and thickening the butts.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a method andapparatus for applying wearresistant material to the elements after thecoating material has been applied to the butts and edges thereof.

Further objects and advantages attending my invention will be manifestfrom the following description in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawing of which,

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view in side elevation, showing anarrangement of apparatus conforming to my invention;

Figure 2 is a View partly diagrammatic and partly in cross-section ofthe apparatus for thickening the butts and sealing the edges of thestrips;

Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 showing an advanced stage intheprocess of applying coating to the butt portion of an element.

Figure 4 is an elevational view taken along line 4-4 of Figure 3,looking in the directionof the arrows;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the cam coating rolls.

Referring to the drawing, the muneral 1 indicates a sheet of feltedfibrous material fed from a suitable roll (not shown) over guide roll 2into a saturating tank 3 where it is saturated with asphalt in the usualmanner. From the saturating tank the sheet passes over guide roll 4 andbetween coating rolls 5 where it is coated on one or both surfaces withblown asphalt of high melting point. Preferably the coating on the upperface of .the sheet, which is to form the exposed face of the finishedelement, is applied in a thickness of say from 0.012 to 0.020" whilethat on the opposite face is of a thickness say from 0.003 to 0.006".From the coating rolls the sheet passes under a hopper 6 whichdischarges crushed slate or other granular material onto the upper faceof the sheet. This granular material is preferably of relatively finemesh, say from such as will pass a screen of 30 mesh'to such as will beretained on a screen of 100 mesh.

The sheet is then passed around the usual press drums (not shown) tocause the granular material to be firmly affixed to the coating, talc ormica being applied to the coating on the under face of the sheet as itpasses around the press drum, in the customary manner. If it is desiredto produce shingle strips of the square butt variety, having a pluralityof tabs spaced by narrow cut-outs, the sheet may then be passed througha slotting device 7, for forming rows of slots in the sheet. The slottedsheet passes over a guide roll 8 and between rolls 9 and 10, carryingsuitable knives for severing the sheet transversely along linescoinciding with the ends of said slots, thus completing the severance ofthe strips from the sheet. The sheet is preferably severed transverselyat the upper or rear end of the slots for a purpose which will behereinafter explained. From the cutting rolls 9 and 10 the severedelements pass between draw rolls 11. These draw rolls are spaced at sucha distance from the cutting rolls 9 and 10 that at the instant the upperedge of the strip leaves the nip of the cutting rolls, the lower edgethereof is caught by the nip between the rolls 11. The rolls 11 serve tofeed the strips between guide rolls 12 to the cam coating rolls 13 and14, which are arranged to receive a film of asphalt or similar coatingmaterial from. pick up or feed rolls 15, 16 respectively, which revolvein pans 20 and 21 containing a supply of the molten asphalt. Instead ofacting as severthe coating of the upper edge of each element is insured.The cam rolls are preferably spaced at such a distance from the drawrolls 11 that at the instant the uppermost edge of the advancing stripleaves the nip of the rolls 11, the strip is engaged on its oppositefaces by the leading ends 22,23 of the cam surfaces 24, along a line ashort distance in advance of the inner ends 26 of the cut-outs 2'7formed in the strip. The rolls- 13 and 14 preferably revolve at such arate that the 1 peripheral speed of the cam surfaces is the same as thatof the draw rolls 14.

Referring more particularly to Figures 2 and 3, it will be seen that asthe strip is engaged in the nip between the cam surfaces at the points22 and 23, it is caused to continue its motion downward and at the sametime the coating carried by each of the cam surfaces is transferred ontothe confronting face of the shingle strip. The cam surfaces 24 and 25are of an arcuate length equal to or slightly greater than the width ofthe portion of the strip desired to be coated, and preferably of anaxial length slightly greater than the length of the strip. As the stripcontinues on its downward path, a well of coating material is built upbetween the cam surfaces 24 and 25 and the confronting surfaces of thestrip, due to the slight squeezing action of the cam surfaces againstthese faces of the strip. As the upper edge of the strip arrives at thenip between the cam surfaces, this well of coating material is forcedover the upper edge and effectively coats and seals it. During thecontact between the cam surfaces and the confronting faces of the strip,the coating material is forced around the edges of the slots which havebeen previously cut in the strips and thereby coats and seals these Iedges. As the rear or uppermost edge of the strip passes beyond the nipbetween the revolving cam surfaces 24 and 25, the strip falls freelyonto a travelling belt 28 having a layer of grit thereon. The stripswill all fall in one direction on the belt by virtue of the horizontalmotion im-' parted to the lower edge of the strip by the belt, while theupper edge is substantially motionless.

The belt 28 carrying the coated elements passes beneath a hopper 29which feeds crushed slate or other gritty material onto the uppersurface of the elements. The elements are then fed beand thence to asuitable tween press rolls 30 which firmly embed the grit in thecoating. From the press rolls 30 the elements are conveyed to anysuitable cooling zone place of packing or bundling.

The cam rolls 13 and 14 may be of any suitable size and have anydesirable number of cam surfaces thereon. The cam surfaces arepreferably provided, as shown in Figure 5, by removably securing arcuateplates of suitable size at properly spaced intervals to the surface of acylindrical drum or roll. The drum may, if desired, be hollow to permitcirculating steam or other temperature regulating medium therethrough.The plates are spaced from each other so that the arcuate distance fromthe edge of one plate to the adjacent edge of the adjacent plate isequal to the width of the portion of the strip which it is not desiredto coat, plus the gap or space between the successive strips as they arefed to the cam rolls.

It is apparent that if it is desired to coat only one surface of thebutt portion of the element, coating material may be omitted from one orthe other of the supply pans 20, 21, thus leaving the corresponding camcoating roll to assist in the feeding of the strip without acting tocoat the corresponding face of the element.

In place of cam rolls, circular rolls can be used which may be caused torevolve at a peripheral speed equal to that of the draw rolls 11 andwhich are caused to rock intermittently by means of a cam mechanism sothat they remain in contact with the surfaces of each element for aperiod of time suiiicient only to coat the butt portion and edgesthereof.

Instead of severing strips from the sheet in such a manner that the buttportion is at the upper end of the strip as the latter is fed to thecoating rolls, the strips may be severed so that the butt portion islowermost. In some respects, it is more advantageous to feed theelements to the coating rolls butt edge downward since as the elementsleave the nip of the coating rolls l3 and 14 they will fall upon thegrit conveying belt 28 so that the coated butt edge will strike the gritand be effectively surfaced.

The surplus grit which is carried to the end 'of the conveyor belt 28falls onto a second conveyor belt 31 travelling in a direction oppositeto the belt 28 and discharging the excess grit into a storage bin 32from whence it is picked up by bucket conveyor 33 and fed to a bin 34which again feeds the grit onto the belt 28.

If preferred, the initial steps of saturating, coating and surfacing maybe performed as a separate operation and the material thus prepared maybe wound into rolls which may be used as a source of supply of thematerial to be fed to the slotting and severing devices, and then to thedraw rolls and cam coaters in the same manner. as heretofore described.Moreover, units which havepreviously been severed may be automaticallyfed from a magazine to the cam coating rolls in timed relationtherewith. This latter method permits of greater flexibility inoperation since the feeding of the units can conveniently be timed asde- I sign of the cam coating rolls to conform to vari-' ous shapedshingles, other types of shingles and shingle strips such as those withhexagonal exposed designs can be produced in the same manner.

To facilitate further the accurate feeding of the strips between the camcoating rolls, the latter may be formed with spaced metal strips orbands extending circumferentially of the rolls intermediate the camsurfaces and connected thereto so as to lie in substantially the sameperipheral plane with the latter. These stripsor bands are preferablysecured at spaced intervals corresponding to the distance between thetab-defining slots or cut-outs in the shingle-strips being treated butare located in staggered relation with reference to the position of thecut-outs as the strips pass between the rolls. These facing bands wouldthen aid in holding the shingle strips properly aligned during theirpassage between the cam surfaces of the coating rolls, and would servealso to apply tongues of coating material extending into the upper partof the shingle strips intermediate the cut-outs. These additionaltongues would underlie the cut-outs of a superadjacent strip when laid,thus affording additional protection at these areas.

It will be apparent that by modifying the design of the cam coatingrolls, shingle strips may also be treated for recoating them while theyare fed in a direction longitudinally of their butt edges, instead of atright angles thereto.

I claim as my invention:

1. The process of manufacturing shingle strips comprising saturating andcoating a sheet of felted fibrous material with a waterproofingsubstance, surfacing the sheet with wear-resisting material, cuttingslots in said sheet at spaced intervals, severing the sheet along linesco-incident with the ends of said slots to form strips, continuouslyfeeding the severed strips in succession directly to a coating zonewhereby to coat substantially only the butt portions and the exposededges of said strips, dropping said strips onto a bed of surfacingmaterial whereby to surface the portions of the strips which have beencoated.

2. The method of producing shingle elements which comprises saturatingand coating a, sheet of felted fibrous material with a waterproofingsubstance, severing the sheet into units, continuously feeding thesevered units in succession directly to a coating device whereby to coatsubstantially only the butt portion and exposed edges of said units withwaterproofing substance and surfacing said coated butt portion andexposed.

edges with wear-resisting material. I

3. A method for thickening the butts and coating the edges of shinglestrips comprising feeding precut strips successively to an intermittentcoating device, operating in timed relation with the feed of saidstrips, coating substantially only the butt portions and the exposededges of said strips and surfacing the thus coated portions and edgeswith wear-resisting material.

4. In the manufacture of shingle elements the step of feeding precutelements in a vertical direction between a pair of co-acting camsurfaces supplied with a film of waterproof coating material whereby tocoat substantially only the butt portion and the exposed edges of saidelements with the waterproofing material.

5. In the manufacture of shingle elements the step of feeding precutelements in a vertical direction between a pair of co-acting camsurfaces supplied with a film of waterproof coating material whereby tocoat substantially only the butt portion and the exposed edges of saidelements with the waterproofing material, and allowing the elements todrop, with the butt edge foremost, onto a moving bed of comminutedmaterial.

6. In the method of producing shingle elements the steps consisting insevering elements from a sheet of roofing material, continuously feedingthe severed elements without'substantially altering their plane ofdisposition directly to a coating zone to coat a portion only of bothfaces of said element, and surfacing the coated areas with comminutedmaterial.

'7. Apparatus of the character described comprising means for saturatingand coating a sheet of fibrous material with waterproofing substar ce,means for surfacing said sheet with granular material, means for cuttingslots in said sheet and severing the sheet into units, an intermittentcoating means, and means for feeding said units in succession directlyfrom said severing means to said coating means.

8. Apparatus of the character described comprising means for severing asheet of roofing material into strips, intermittent means for coatingsaid strips, and means for feeding strips in succession directly fromsaid severing means to said coating means.

9. A method for recoating prepared shingle units comprising feedingprecut units successively to an intermittent coating device operating intimed relation with the feed of said units, coating substantially onlypredetermined portions of said units and surfacing the thus coatedportions with a wear-resisting material.

FREDERICK C. OVERBURY.

